Musings about Tradition in the Catholic Church in England and Wales, and an attempt to collect essays and articles which would appear in a Catholic press which exercised critical solidarity with the Hierarchy.

09 April 2009

Not Just Austria: The Sad State Of The Portuguese Episcopate

The Portuguese episcopate is in a state of heresy and practical schism.

If anybody was still in doubt, their doubts were dispelled by the recent statements of several Portuguese Bishops, which began to be made with an almost ordered regularity after the Pope's trip to Africa: most of the national episcopate is in state of heresy, of effective schism and has broken with the traditional teaching of the Church. I have not invented this: to get details and see the facts compiled objectively by Miguel Alfonso, go to A Tribuna. Some examples:

- D. Ilídio Pinto do Amaral, Bishop of Viseu, defended the use of condoms to prevent the transmission of Aids and stated that, at least in cases of family violence, marriage can be dissolved by divorce;

- D. Januário Torgal Ferreira, Bishop of the Armed Forces, has been an advocate for the use of condoms to prevent Aids, as well as for the ordination of women;

- D. Carlos Azeredo, Auxiliary Bishop of Lisbon, pointed out that Catholics vote for parties which support the legalization of homosexual "marriage", maintained that the teaching of the Church about the use of contraception has to evolve, and expressed his "concern" about the content of the letter that he received from the Pope about the lifting of the excommunications of the SSPX bishops;

- D. Manuel Clement, Bishop of Oporto, said that the use of condoms to prevent the spread of Aids is permissible in exceptional cases.

What can one say? The first three of these bishops deliberately showed that they wished to differ from and contradict the Pope and the teaching of the Church in matters of faith and morals. D. Ilídio even joked about this aspect, saying that he doesn't believe that the Vatican will fine him for the positions he has taken publicly.

For my part, I believe the Vatican has no other alternative than that of "fining" these bishops, reproving them for their erroneous teachings, and demanding the withdrawal of their statements because of the public scandal they have caused. And if they won't, then the time will have arrived to conclude that they are no longer able to carry out their episcopal duties publicly and remove them from office. This would at least be coherent with Rome's reaction to the case of Bishop Williamson ...